BY SUE BULL
— The royal commission into the building industry has returned to Melbourne amid a barrage of controversy. There have been sensational allegations about breaches of its security and lack of independence. Unions have continued to mobilise outside the hearings whenever their officials have been subpoenaed to appear.
On February 6, state secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) Martin Kingham revealed that a package had been delivered to him on January 13. It contained seven pages of private interviews between commission investigators and Master Builders Association officials, an outline of the commission's approach to evidence gathering and names of witnesses. It was also made clear that if the union was prepared to pay $50,000, then more confidential data would be made available.
Kingham was advised by his solicitors to inform the Australian Federal Police, which he did. Kingham was asked to participate in a "sting" operation to trap the whistleblower. However, other CFMEU members felt that the leak itself could be a "sting", so this did not proceed.
This was another reason why the royal commission should be abandoned, Kingham said later. "We have no confidence in the security of the commission because of these leaked documents."
This incident followed an incident in which the workplace relations minister Tony Abbott appeared to pre-empt the commission's findings by sending a "letter of comfort" to a major contractor named in the inquiry. Commissioner Terence Cole was then forced to "reaffirm the inquiry's independence" from the federal government, politicians, employers, unions and the media.
The commission has been combing through agreements certified by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) which contain serious omissions, irregularities and breaches of the Workplace Relations Act. Unions, employer advocates and the AIRC itself have been severely criticised for simply rubber stamping workplace agreements in bulk.
"The AIRC has failed badly to uphold the purposes of the Workplace Relations Act", counsel assisting the royal commission, John Bishop, said.
Unionists say that the investigation not only displays immense bias against trade unions and their officials, but is clearly targeted at continuing the federal Coalition government's campaign to reduce the powers of the AIRC. They speculate that part of the agenda of this process is to alienate state Labor governments from the construction unions.
In the last few weeks, officials from the CFMEU and the Electrical Trades Union have appeared before the royal commission. Bill Shorten from the Australian Workers Union is to appear soon and Craig Johnston, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Victorian secretary, is to appear on February 25. Johnston will be escorted to the royal commission by shop stewards and members from all construction unions.
The royal commission has also queried what it considers to be illegal walk-offs for solidarity reasons pn political or health and safety issues. For example, all building unions stop work state-wide for a day if a worker is killed in the industry. Unions have also been prepared to walk off the job in support of independence for East Timor, May Day protests, the campaign for the 36-hour week and to protest against the royal commission.
Questions and comments by Commissioner Cole about the motivation behind building companies making deals with the union movement have even excited the ire of certain industry bosses.
Asked by Cole if agreements to only employ sub-contractors with current agreements with unions were an attempt to guarantee industrial peace, Multiplex site manager Barry Cordner said, "We are not out there to fight. We are out there to build."
The royal commission will relocate to Western Australia in March and return to Victoria in May. Significantly, there are no dates for NSW at this stage. Union sources believe that this is because the most militant building unions are in Victoria and WA, and it is the commission's intention to undermine unions in those states.
In other news, construction workers in Melbourne were surprised to find out that John Van Camp, now the former state secretary of the Federated Engine Drivers and Fireman's Association, has decided to leave the union movement and take up an industrial relations position with Grollo's, a huge construction firm in Melbourne.
According to the 3CR radio's The Concrete Gang program, Van Camp had been an official of the Builders Labourers Federation in the early 1980s but had jumped to FEDFA when the BLF was deregistered. Allegedly, Van Camp will receive $160,000 per annum.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, February 20, 2002.
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